Almost thirty years ago, in May, 1989, I addressed a group of award winning K-12 teachers.
I concluded my remarks saying that there is only one thing that I wouldn’t dream of leaving here without talking with you. It is something that I have seen played out in my life and in other peoples’ lives again and again.
I’m talking about the role of expectations and values…and the incredible role that teachers have played for me and my family in building our expectations and values—and hence our future.
My deep, deep conviction in the role teachers play in creating our future goes back to my earliest years.
While I was blessed with a good home and wonderful parents who were ready to make any sacrifice to help me get a good education—still I know I would not be the person I am today if it were not for a handful of teachers that I can vividly remember to this very day. They influenced my life in a variety of ways. The inculcated a love of learning and the thrill of discovering new concepts. And they provided a good dose of plain faith and discipline.
But above all, they conveyed to me the belief that I could do well. That was so important. It is one thing—and a very important thing—to have your mother or father express confidence in you, but it is also an enormously important thing to have that confidence expressed by a teacher, particularly one you respect.
In preparing for this talk, I went back to my report cards which, believe it or not, I still have from high school—1952-56.
Some of them brought tears to my eyes as I more than ever recognized the influence of a particular teacher. I would just like to read you a couple of excerpts from these report cards. While they may not be totally clear in their meaning, they will give you a sense of what this teacher did for me.
His name was Andrew Jenks. He was my homeroom teacher and my math teacher. Here was his report after he had known me for about six months in my first year:
“John is a very able and likeable boy. His overall record is a good one for his first term in the regular session—though I am sure it could be improved and I hope he will strive for such improvement. Just as he is prone to a certain messiness and disorder about his desk, so I suspect he may often be rather distracting from the full excellence he might achieve. He is quite quick and his thoughts may often get ahead of his writing with this effect.
Perhaps a little greater care would make the difference. Both Mathematics and French would probably benefit from a more careful approach. I trust he will work hard to make good his recent gains in Latin without letting any other subjects suffer. For surely he is well able to do so.”
I think I’d better stop there. He got a little more critical after that.
That report was the tip of the iceberg. Andrew Jenks talked to me daily. He didn’t book any compromise. He could be gruff. But I knew he respected me, I knew he cared for me and I knew he wanted the best for me.
Some years later in my final report, here’s what he said: “John has an excellent record which he has built up steadily since he came—nor do I feel he has reached the peak of his performance. I greatly appreciate his good influence in the school, not to mention his bearing with me even when that may have been trying. Frankly, I take this as a great compliment because John knows how important this was to me.” Indeed I did. Thirty-three years ago I did. Today, I do even more.
This teacher was just one of several who gave me a positive understanding of myself…an understanding of what I might become. He left me with the conviction that I ought to be a top achiever…indeed that I should settle for no less…that I had that responsibility.
And Andrew Jenks conveyed to me what in my life—in school and in all my years with Procter & Gamble, I have come to regard as the single most important principle of human development. I call it the self-fulfilling prophesy…or the Pygmalion Theory. It is something that I believe in so deeply and it is something your profession…the teaching profession influences more than any other.
What I experienced in school has remained true in business. Neither I nor anyone I know would be where he or she is at Procter & Gamble today if it were not for the confidence and values that associates or teachers brought to us over the years.
And that I have found comes out of only one thing—relationships…personal relationships of trust, of caring, and of high expectations.
Young people do not assimilate values by learning words or concepts of truth and justice and their definitions. No—they learn attitudes and habits from intensely personal relationships with their families, their teachers and their close friends. Young people don’t learn ethical principles so much as they learn to emulate ethical or unethical people. And they learn from role models.
And teachers like you are often the most important role model for them.
Thank you for all you do.
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